School districts face state aid cuts

CORRECTION: The Liberty school district receives $20,261,025 in state school aid under Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s proposed budget for the coming year. That number is incorrect in the chart below.

Nearly one-third of mid-Hudson school districts are bracing for the potential of deep cuts in state aid as they plan their budgets for the next school year.

Eleven out of 34 districts in the mid-Hudson face reductions in state aid. Ironically, they received the news Tuesday as Gov. Andrew Cuomo touted an increase in total state school aid of 4.4 percent. The final figures will have to be hammered out between Cuomo and the state Legislature. The deadline: April 1.

But the Marlboro School District, which is already faced with losses of millions of dollars in school property tax revenue as a result of the sale of the two Dynegy plants, is slated to get 7.32 percent less state aid than this year. That is about $850,000.

“We're extremely disappointed with those numbers, when you're dealing with a financial crisis like ours,” said Marlboro Superintendent Ray Castellani. “I've just come back from Albany, where we were pleading our case before the Assembly and the Senate and we're hoping there will be a recalculation for our school district.”

The Onteora School District is projected to lose the largest percentage of state aid in the region. It faces a decrease of 7.64 percent or about $500,790 in funding.

“Our district is seeing a drastic reduction of $500,790 in the High Tax Aid category,” said Victoria McLaren, Onteora's assistant superintendent for business.

“This decrease in state aid will obviously require us to make cuts,” she said.

Smaller districts, including Roscoe, also expect to feel the impact. State lawmakers came to Roscoe's rescue this school year with an additional $40,000 in state aid secured by Assemblywoman Aileen Gunther and $25,000 acquired by Senator John Bonacic.

But now the district is faced with a $110,000 or 2.5 percent tax levy deficit and that doesn't include increases in employee benefits, said Superintendent John Evans.

”For a small school, we've been very responsible in keeping costs down, but we're whittled down to the bare bones,” he said.

The district has already merged its athletic program with neighboring districts and done away with its summer recreation program.

Even Middletown, which will be getting $2 million more in state funding, expects to face a shortfall.

According to Superintendent Ken Eastwood, the $20 million federal Race to the Top District grant that the district won last year could even be in jeopardy.

“Actually we cannot mix that money and the programs we will have to cut to make up a very serious projected shortfall would possibly eliminate the programs we would be leveraging to create the success of the Race to the Top grant,” said Eastwood. “Thus, the RTTT grant might be fruitless in the district, after the cuts needed to make up the shortfall.”pliu@th-record.com